The Promise of an
Eternal Covenant:
"Behold, the days are
coming, says the Lord, when I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah -- not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to
lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they
broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in
their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I
will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more
shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother,
saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from
the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For
I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no
more."
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Fulfilled
through the cross -- for those who believe:
"...at that time [before the cross]
you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of
Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus
you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of
Christ."
Ephesians 2:12-13
The Old
Testament side of the cross
Abrahamic
Covenant:
"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to
Abram and said to him, 'I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be
blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and
will multiply you exceedingly.' Then Abram fell on his face, and
God talked with him, saying: 'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of
many nations. No longer shall your name be called
Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made
you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly
fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall
come from you. And I will establish My covenant between
Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations,
for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your
descendants after you. Also I give to you and your
descendants after you the land in which you are a
stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession;
and I will be their God."
Genesis 17:1-6
New Testament
explanation:
"Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not
say, 'And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'And to
your Seed,' who is Christ. 'And this I say, that the
law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot
annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God 'in
Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. 'For if
the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of
promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise."
Galatians 3:16-18
"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ
Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ
have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor
female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if
you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs
according to the promise."
Galatians 3:26-29
"And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son,
and if a
son, then an heir of God through Christ."
Galatians 4:6
Mosaic
Covenant:
"And Moses went up to God [on Mt. Horeb], and the Lord called to him
from the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of
Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 'You have seen what I
did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and
brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed
obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be
a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth
is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a
holy nation.’"
Exodus 19:3-6
"And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the Lord your
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage. 'You shall have no other gods before Me.
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any
likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you
shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord
your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of
those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those
who love Me and keep My commandments." [The rest of the 10
Commandments follow]
Exodus 20:1-6
"Moses
took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood
he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the
Book of the
Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they
said, All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.'
And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said,
'This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made
with you according to all these words.”
Exodus 24:6-8
"The
Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did
not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who
are here today, all of us who are alive.... He said: ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ‘You shall have no other gods before Me...."
[The rest of the 10
Commandments follow]
Deuteronomy 5:2-6
Davidic Covenant:
"...say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'I
took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be
ruler over My people, over Israel. And I have been with you
wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies
from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name
of the great men who are on the earth. Moreover I will appoint
a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they
may dwell in a place of their own and move no more....
"'When your days are fulfilled and
you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after
you, who will come from your body, and I will establish
his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I
will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will
be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity,
I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of
the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as
I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before
you. Your throne shall be established forever.'"
2 Samuel 7:8-16
The New
Covenant is based on the cross
Reference to the Old Testament promise:
"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
because they did not continue in My covenant.... For this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on
their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My
people... .In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first
obsolete."
Hebrews 8:7-13
"Jesus has become a surety of a
better covenant."
Hebrews 7:22
"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having
become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is
everyone who hangs on a tree'), 'that the blessing of
Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
Galatians
3:13-14
"For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer,
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,
how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is
the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that
those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal
inheritance."
Hebrews 9:13-15
"...by one offering He has perfected
forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also
witnesses to us; for after He had said before, 'This is the covenant
that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will
put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write
them,' then He adds, 'Their sins and their lawless deeds I will
remember no more.' Now where there is remission of these, there is
no longer an offering for sin."
Hebrews 10:14-18
"Therefore, brethren, having boldness to
enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way
which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,
and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
for He who promised is faithful."
Hebrews 10:19-24
"...how much worse punishment, do you
suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God
underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was
sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we
know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord.
And again, 'The Lord will judge His people.' It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God."
Hebrews 10:29-30
"They
stumbled, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were
appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people,
that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people
but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now
have obtained mercy."
1
Peter 2:8-10
Mediator of the new covenant:
"...Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant...."
Hebrews 12:24
"For He Himself is our
peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of
separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the
law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in
Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God
in one body through the cross.... For through Him we both
have access by one Spirit to the Father." Ephesians 2:14-19
The New
Covenant: "You are our
epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly
you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink
but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on
tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust
through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves
to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is
from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new
covenant, not of the letter [of the law] but of the Spirit; for the
letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."
2
Corinthians 3:2-6
"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in
the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has
given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through
the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which
have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that
through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
2 Peter 1:2-4
"Therefore let us go forth to Him,
outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no
continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore by Him let
us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the
fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."
Hebrews 13:13-15
Communion through
the Covenant: "Then He took
the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from
it, all of you. 'For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is
shed for many for the remission of sins."
Matthew 26:27
"I received from the Lord that which I
also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in
which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He
broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for
you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same manner He also took
the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My
blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.'"
1 Corinthians
11:23-26
"But let a man examine himself, and so
let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats
and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to
himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are
weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge
ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are
chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world."
1 Corinthians
11:28-32
Believers are
"grafted into" God's covenant family:
"You will say then, 'Branches were broken off that I might be
grafted in.' Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off,
and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did
not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.
Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who
fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His
goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they
do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to
graft them in again. ... For I do not desire, brethren, that you
should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your
own opinion..."
Romans 11:19-25
Believers are
separated [from the world] unto God:
"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what
fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion
has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or
what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has
the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the
living God. As God has said:
'I will dwell in them and
walk among them.
I will be their God, and they shall be My
people.'
Therefore 'Come out from among them and be separate,' says the
Lord.
'Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.
I will be a Father to you, and
you
shall be My sons and daughters;' says the
Lord Almighty.”
2 Corinthians
6:14-18
Blessing through the Eternal Covenant:
"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we
should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know
us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of
God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know
that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him
as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself,
just as He is pure."
1 John 3:1-3
"Now may the God of peace who brought up
our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in
every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing
in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen."
Hebrews 13:20-21